Bay Point's Vendor Market Is Getting a Calendar, an Application, and a New Address

Tomorrow, Thursday, October 1, 2026, the lot at Willow Pass Road and Clearland Drive closes to vendor markets. Two weeks later, on Thursday, October 15, a replacement opens farther down Willow Pass Road in the Ambrose Community Center parking lot at 3105 Willow Pass Road. It runs from 5 to 8 p.m. every Thursday through November 19, then breaks until March 2027.

The address is only part of the change. Ambrose Recreation & Park District describes the new market as a way for sidewalk vendors "to continue their businesses in a regulated and licensed manner." It has an application form, a staff contact, and a season with a start date and an end date. Before tomorrow, selling in Bay Point meant showing up at a corner. After October 15, it means signing up for a district program that shares its address with the youth leagues, the board meetings and the park rebuild.

What the district says is behind the move

Ambrose's notice gives a short reason. The Willow Pass/Clearland lot is closing to vendor markets "due to a Contra Costa County ordinance and Municipal Code consistent with state law." The district's board agenda for its September 10, 2026 meeting is more specific. Item 9b reads "Discuss the Closure of Clearland Property Due to Liability Concerns, Compliance with Contra Costa County Environmental Health Ordinances, and the Establishment and Implementation of a Mobile Vendor Market Program."

The county rule in question is most likely Ordinance 2025-03. The Board of Supervisors adopted it on February 4, 2025, amending Ordinance Code Article 413-3.16. Its stated goals include regulating the hours and locations of mobile units and preventing safety and traffic hazards. Supervisors John Gioia, Candace Andersen, Ken Carlson and Shanelle Scales-Preston voted for it, and Diane Burgis was absent.

The ordinance text does not name the Clearland lot or ban markets there. It sets operating rules and permit requirements. The district's own agenda pairs the closure with liability concerns, so the decision rests on both the county code and the district's own risk assessment. The public record does not yet show how the board's September 10 discussion went.

Six Thursdays, three hours each

The new schedule is short and precise. From October 15 through November 19 there are six market nights, each running 5 to 8 p.m. The two weeks between tomorrow's closure and the first Thursday at Ambrose have no district market at all. The market also goes dark from late November until it reopens in March 2027.

The three-hour window lines up with the county code. Ordinance 2025-03 limits vending to three hours per day per site. It defines a "site" as the footprint of the mobile unit plus the area within 100 feet of it, and it bars vending between 10 p.m. and 6:30 a.m. The district hasn't said whether it set the Thursday hours to match that cap. Even so, a 5-to-8 p.m. market fits inside the rule with nothing to spare.

A second clause matters for vendors who sell outside the market. The ordinance prohibits vending within 100 feet of an operating community event, a certified farmers' market or a swap meet. If the Ambrose market counts as one of those, it creates a 100-foot buffer around itself on Thursday evenings.

What a vendor needs before October 15

The Ambrose program sits on top of the county's permit system and does not replace it. For anyone selling food, the steps run in this order:

1. Get a county health permit. Contra Costa Health says mobile food operators need a health permit, including those selling only packaged foods. The application goes in with the right fee and supporting materials, and the agency then schedules an inspection.
2. Get a food safety certificate if the menu calls for one. Mobile facilities that handle or serve unpackaged, potentially hazardous foods need one. A mobile food permit from another county does not carry over. Contra Costa's permit is specific to Contra Costa.
3. Display the paperwork. The ordinance requires operators to display current county Environmental Health permits and any applicable food handler permit, and it allows inspections.
4. Register with Ambrose. The district's application form also lets you pick your market dates. Eric Waller handles questions at [email protected] or (925) 458-1601, extension 106.

Permit costs depend on what a vendor sells and how it is prepared. Here are three categories from the county's current fee schedule:

The timing matters here. The first phase of the county's phased increase runs through December 31, 2026, and the second phase begins January 1, 2027, at the amounts the schedule lists as current fees. For a full-preparation truck, that is $549 this year and $1,097 next year. The Ambrose market reopens in March 2027, so a vendor who waits until spring to start the permit process would be applying under the second-phase amounts. The county's retail food page also links to a sidewalk vendor workshop registration form and to mobile food consultation resources, both places to ask questions before applying.

The market lands in a park that is mid-rebuild

The parking lot at 3105 Willow Pass Road is also the district's office and the site of its board meetings. Moving the vendor market there brings it onto a campus with a lot of work underway.

The Ambrose Aquatic Center is closed for the 2026 season and is listed as returning in spring 2027. The district's pool page doesn't give a reason. The pool and the vendor market are both scheduled to restart in spring 2027.

The same September 10 agenda that covered the Clearland closure had a second big item. It asked the board to authorize the general manager to start bidding the Ambrose Memorial Park Lower Park Phase II Project. That work covers demolition, site preparation and storm drain replacement, and it is expected to be paid for with Quimby funds. The agenda doesn't say whether the motion passed.

"Phase II" also appears in an earlier district project that should be kept separate. A March 2025 staff report recommended that the board authorize design and construction drawings for renovating the natural turf upper field. The plan called for two youth soccer fields and a baseball field, with new irrigation, a controller, a pump and electrical service. The recommended cap for the design work was $228,400 from unassigned reserves. That figure covers design only. It is not a construction budget.

Some of the park's longer-range options date to a May 2024 planning exhibit. It listed a soccer overlay field, a centrally located tot lot, splash pads near the pool, courts for basketball, tennis, volleyball and badminton, a gazebo, upgraded picnic areas and parking improvements. The exhibit presented these as consensus plan elements, not a final construction package. It still shows what the district has been weighing for the grounds around the new market.

Saturdays, the trail, and the walk over

The Thursday market is one of several fall programs on the same grounds. From October 6 to 8, Ambrose runs a three-day outdoor volleyball camp for ages 7 to 13 at the Community Center fields, 10 a.m. to noon. On Saturdays from October 24 to November 28, the district and the National Academy of Athletics run a new six-week flag football league at Ambrose Park, 9 a.m. to noon, also for ages 7 to 13. The league begins nine days after the first market night and ends nine days after the last one. From late October to late November, the campus has programs both Thursday evening and Saturday morning.

The routes to the campus are also under study. Pittsburg, Contra Costa County and the East Bay Regional Park District are planning safety and access changes along about 8.5 miles of the Delta de Anza Trail, including a roughly four-mile Bay Point segment. Options include lighting, crossing treatments, beacons, wayfinding and landscaping. The city's estimated schedule shows planning and design from spring 2026 to winter 2027, a construction award in spring 2027, and construction from summer 2027 to summer 2028. The city labels these dates estimates, not commitments.

Lighting is also coming to the station end of the area. On August 28, 2026, Rep. John Garamendi announced $500,000 for a station LED lighting program covering Pittsburg/Bay Point, Richmond and El Cerrito Plaza. The program will replace fluorescent fixtures to improve visibility and safety. November market nights at Ambrose run into the dark, which makes the lighting plans for the trail and the station relevant to anyone walking over after work.

Starting tomorrow, anyone looking for the vendor market should head to 3105 Willow Pass Road on a Thursday between October 15 and November 19, or wait until March. Vendors who want a spot should contact Eric Waller and start their county permit before the fee schedule changes on January 1, 2027.

If a change like this has you thinking about how Bay Point is shifting around your own home, or about a move for you or an aging parent, the team at Realm Real Estate follows these local decisions closely and is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.